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Instagram ‘I will rape you’ post surfaces on Facebook as an advert

A rape and death threat sent to a user has been accidentally used to advertise Instagram on Facebook.

The offending advert showed one of the user ’ s Instagram posts containing a screenshot of a threatening email , which read : “ I will rape you before I kill you, you filthy whore !”

Olivia Solon, a reporter for UK newspaper the Guardian, was alerted to the ad by her sister for whom it was displayed as a promotional tool on Facebook .

“ See Olivia Solon’ s photo and posts from friends on Instagram, ” read a caption below the shocking image.

“ We are sorry this happened – it’ s not the experience we want someone to have, ” Instagram said in a statement.

“ This notification post had surfaced as part of an effort to encourage engagement on Instagram. Posts are generally received by a small percentage of a person’ s Facebook friends. ”

Solon originally posted the image to the Facebook -owned social photography platform in 2016 to highlight online hate speech directed towards women.

“ This is an email I received this afternoon , ” she wrote (via The Guardian).
“ Sadly , this is all too common for women on the internet . I am sure this is just an idiot rather than any kind of credible threat , but it’ s still pretty vile . ”

The post received three likes and multiple comments , which it appears was enough ‘ social engagement’ to entice Instagram’ s algorithms into using the photo as a promotional aid for Solon’ s friend list on Facebook .